Memory system having fast and slow data reading mechanisms

ABSTRACT

A memory for storing data comprising: a fast data reading mechanism operable to sense one or more signal values dependent upon a data value stored in said memory so as to generate a first signal transition indicative of said data value and used to generate a fast read result that is output from said memory for further processing; a slow data reading mechanism operable to sense said one or more signal values dependent upon said data value so as to generate a second signal transition indicative of said data value and used to generate a slow read result available after said fast read result, said slow read result being less prone to error than said fast read result; a comparator operable to compare said fast read result and said slow read result and to generate an error signal if said fast read result does not match said slow read result; and a timing checker coupled to said fast data reading mechanism and operable to detect that said first signal transition was generated within a predetermined time and generate an appropriate timing error signal.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to the field of data processing systems. More particularly, this invention relates to a memory for storing data within data processing systems.

2. Description of the Prior Art

It is known to provide memories within data processing systems having a hierarchy of memory levels. A memory system may typically be formed starting with a local cache memory and extending outward through main solid state memory and possibly non-volatile permanent storage, such as a hard disk drive. An important performance characteristic for memories is the speed with which they can be read. The more rapidly data values can be read from a memory, then the higher the maximum rate of data processing that can typically be achieved (factors other than memory read speed may also limit processing speed). Memory system design normally involves a balance between speed and other parameters such as capacity, power consumption, cost, complexity etc.

In the context of memory systems there is also a degree of manufacturing or state induced variation in the read performance that may be achieved. As an example, manufacturing variations in the way that an integrated circuit memory is produced may result in different maximum read speeds that can be achieved when comparing otherwise identical memory integrated circuits. It is also possible that the maximum read performance that can be achieved will vary depending upon the physical or logical state of the system, e.g. depending upon the ambient temperature.

In order to ensure correct operation, memory system designers normally operate the memory system to sample a read value therefrom at a time chosen to ensure that the correct read value will have been driven out from the memory given a worst case set of assumptions surrounding manufacturing variation, ambient conditions etc associated with the memory system concerned. A memory system designer will calculate a slowest likely read speed and then add a certain safety margin to this when deciding at what speed the memory should be operated. Whilst this approach is safe in terms of ensuring correct operation and data integrity, it can significantly limit the data processing performance that may be achieved.

As a more particular example, it may be desired to operate a memory in a low power consumption mode. In this mode the read performance is less than in a corresponding high power consumption mode, e.g. a memory integrated circuit may be read more rapidly when operating at a higher voltage than when operating at a lower voltage. In these circumstances, in order to ensure correct operation and data integrity the system designer is normally forced to either assume a memory read performance less than might ultimately be achievable with the particular memory concerned and/or operate in a higher power consumption state than might actually be necessary to achieve the desired level of processing performance.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Viewed from one aspect the present invention provides a memory for storing data comprising:

a fast data reading mechanism operable to read a data value from said memory to generate a fast read result that is output from said memory for further processing;

a slow data reading mechanism operable to read said data value from said memory to generate a slow read result available after said fast read result has been output for further processing, said slow data reading mechanism being less prone to error in reading said data value than said fast data reading mechanism;

a comparator operable to compare said fast read result and said slow read result to detect if said fast read result differs from said slow read result; and

error repair logic operable if said comparator detects that said fast read result differs from said slow read result to suppress said further processing using said fast read result, to output said slow read result in place of said fast read result and to restart said further processing based upon said slow read result.

The present invention recognises that a memory may be operated with more than one read mechanism. A fast read mechanism may be provided which uses a relatively aggressive set of performance assumptions. This fast read mechanism will sometimes erroneously read the data from the memory due to the performance assumptions being too aggressive, e.g. the read timing may be too fast or the operating voltage too low. However, the memory of the present technique is also provided with a slow data reading mechanism which reads the data value from the memory at a later time, but is less prone to error in reading that data value compared with the fast data reading mechanism. In order to benefit from the aggressive performance assumptions associated with the fast data read mechanism, the fast read result is passed from the memory for further processing as soon as it is available and before the slow read result is available. The slow read result is compared with the fast read result when the slow read result becomes available and, if a difference is detected, then the error repair logic operates to suppress further processing using the fast read result and outputs the slow read result in its place. It is assumed that the slow read result is the correct data value and it will serve to replace the incorrect processing associated with the fast read result. Even though the suppression of the further processing which may have already started using the fast read result will likely incur a significant time penalty, providing the need to invoke this suppression is sufficiently infrequent there will result an overall increase in performance (whether that be measured in terms of processing speed, lowness of operating voltage achievable, or otherwise).

It will be appreciated that the technique of the fast and slow data reading mechanisms described above may be employed in a wide variety of different memories e.g. disk drives, but is particularly well suited to solid state integrated circuit memories which typically comprise an array of memory cells read via one or more bit lines.

In the context of such integrated circuit memories, the fast data reading mechanism may be arranged to be operable to sample the bit lines at a first delay time following a reading operation being initiated compared with the slow data reading mechanism sampling the bit lines at a second later time. The bit lines with which an integrated circuit memory are read take a finite amount of time after they are coupled to the relevant memory cell to be driven to the appropriate values indicating the data value concerned. This time needed by the bit lines to adopt the required level can vary depending upon a variety of different factors, such as manufacturing tolerances, operating voltage, operating temperature, adjacent data values held within the memory, etc. The fast data reading mechanism samples the bit line early at a time when the correct value is normally, but not always present. The slow data read mechanism samples the bit line at a later time when the correct data value is more or less certain to be available. Should a difference occur between the early and late read values, then the use of the early read value is suppressed and replaced by the late read value.

Whilst some memories can use a single bit line, the invention is particularly well suited to embodiments in which the memory cell is read via a pair of bit lines, and particularly where one or more current or voltage sensitive differential sense amplifiers are operable to read signal values from the pair of bit lines.

It will be appreciated that whilst the fast and slow read mechanisms may be completely independent from one another, advantageous reductions in circuit area, power consumption etc can be made when these share at least some common circuit elements, e.g. as one example it is possible to use the same sampling hardware but with a fast trigger signal and a slow trigger signal to control the sampling times.

The error repair logic can operate in a variety of different ways but generically is operable to issue a suppression signal to circuits to which the fast read result has been passed for further processing. Those circuits then act upon the received suppression signal to suppress processing based upon the incorrect value in a variety of different ways, as is appropriate to their individual operations.

Whilst it might be possible to arrange the fast read mechanism to produce a substantially zero error rate, preferred embodiments of the invention control one or more performance controlling parameters of the memory to maintain a finite non-zero error rate in the fast read result. The target error rate being a finite non-zero value in this way is highly counter-intuitive in the context of memory systems in which it is normally a required performance characteristic that an essentially zero error rate is maintained.

The one or more performance controlling parameters which may be varied to maintain the non-zero error rate include one or more of operating voltage, operating frequency, body bias voltage and temperature. It will be appreciated that other performance controlling parameters may be varied in addition or in place of one or more of the above. Also, performance may be controlled by manufacturing variation even though this is not a dynamically adjustable parameter.

Viewed from another aspect the present invention provides method of reading stored data from a memory, said method comprising the steps of:

reading a data value with a fast data reading mechanism from said memory to generate a fast read result that is output from said memory for further processing;

reading said data value with a slow data reading mechanism from said memory to generate a slow read result available after said fast read result has been output for further processing, said slow data reading mechanism being less prone to error in reading said data value than said fast data reading mechanism;

comparing said fast read result and said slow read result to detect if said fast read result differs from said slow read result; and

if said fast read result differs from said slow read result, then suppressing said further processing using said fast read result, outputting said slow read result in place of said fast read result and restarting said further processing based upon said slow read result.

In the context of system having a fast data reading mechanism and a slow data reading mechanism metastability can cause problems, such as within the sense amplifier feedback loop of the fast data reading mechanism where an uncertain logic value may arise on the sense amplifier output (depending on the transfer characteristics of the output inverter), and will produce uncertainty as to the actual timing of the transition. The comparator will check that the fast read result and the slow read result correspond once the slow read result is available. However, it is important that the signal being regarded as the fast read result and subject to the comparison properly reflects the fast read result which was actually output taking into account the potential effects of metastability. It will be appreciated that within circuits operating toward the limit of maximum performance which is enabled by the present techniques, the issues of metastability are potentially significant.

Viewed from one aspect the present invention provides a memory for storing data comprising:

a fast data reading mechanism operable to sense one or more signal values dependent upon a data value stored in said memory so as to generate a first signal transition indicative of said data value and used to generate a fast read result that is output from said memory for further processing;

a slow data reading mechanism operable to sense said one or more signal values dependent upon said data value so as to generate a second signal transition indicative of said data value and used to generate a slow read result available after said fast read result, said slow read result being less prone to error than said fast read result;

a comparator operable to compare said fast read result and said slow read result and to generate an error signal if said fast read result does not match said slow read result; and

a timing checker coupled to said fast data reading mechanism and operable to detect that said first signal transition was generated within a predetermined time.

The present technique recognizes that issues of metastability need to be addressed within memories operating in accordance with the present techniques close to the maximum performance limit in order that reliability can be maintained. To this end, a timing checker is responsive to the fast data reading mechanism and detects that the first signal transition which is being used to generate the fast read result occurs within a predetermined time. If the first signal transition occurs within the predetermined time, then it is likely not to have been influenced by the effects of metastability and will likely represent the expected behaviour of the fast data reading mechanism without metastabilty.

Whilst it will be appreciated that the predetermined time could be measured in a variety of ways, such as being measured relative to its own separately provided clock signal, a preferred technique is one in which the predetermined time commences with the fast data reading mechanism starting to sense the one or more signal values. In this way, the operation of the timing checker can be effectively self-timed from the start of the action of the fast data reading mechanism and accordingly implementation and synchronisation issues eased.

The present technique is particularly useful when the fast data reading mechanism and/or the slow data reading mechanism comprise sense amplifiers. Sense amplifiers use feedback to amplify small signal differences and so operate close to the metastable condition.

Whilst the one or more signal values sensed by the fast data reading mechanism and the slow data reading mechanism can take a wide variety of different forms, the present technique integrates well with existing and efficient memory structures in which the one or more signal values being sensed are bit line signals from respective ones of a pair of bit lines joining columns of memory cells within a memory.

Whilst the timing checker can be formed in a variety of different ways to achieve the functionality of the present technique, preferred embodiments use a sensing node which is charged to a predetermined voltage and discharged in dependence upon the correct timing of the first signal transition.

Embodiments of this sensing node arrangement may be such that the discharging of the sensing node in response to the first signal transition is disabled after the predetermined time and that a weak feedback circuit is used to maintain the sensing node voltage pending any forced discharge.

The output of the timing checker may be used in a variety of different ways, but in simple and advantageously direct embodiments it is used to indicate an error in the fast read result which triggers appropriate error recovery mechanisms as discussed herein.

Viewed from another aspect the present invention provides a method of reading a data value from a memory, said method comprising the steps of: memory for storing data comprising:

sensing one or more signal values dependent upon a data value stored in said memory so as to generate a first signal transition indicative of said data value and used to generate a fast read result that is output from said memory for further processing;

sensing said one or more signal values dependent upon said data value so as to generate a second signal transition indicative of said data value and used to generate a slow read result available after said fast read result, said slow read result being less prone to error than said fast read result;

comparing said fast read result and said slow read result and to generate an error signal if said fast read result does not match said slow read result;

detecting that said first signal transition was generated within a predetermined time; and

generating a timing error signal if said first signal transition was not generated within said predetermined time.

The above, and other objects, features and advantages of this invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of illustrative embodiments which is to be read in connection with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a plurality of processing stages to which the present technique is applied;

FIG. 2 is a circuit block diagram schematically illustrating a circuit for use in the present technique;

FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram schematically illustrating a non-delayed latch and a delayed latch together with an associated comparator and error-recovery logic;

FIGS. 4A and 4B are a flow diagram schematically illustrating the operation of the circuit of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 schematically illustrates a memory circuit including a fast read mechanism and a slow read mechanism;

FIGS. 6A and 6B illustrates an alternative circuit arrangement for a portion of the circuit of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram schematically illustrating the operation of the memory circuit of FIG. 5;

FIG. 8 illustrates a pipelined bus including non-delayed latches and delayed latches between the bus stages;

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram schematically illustrating the operation of the pipelined bus of FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 schematically illustrates the generation of control signals for controlling a microprocessor that are subject to both non-delayed latching and output and delayed latching and output;

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram schematically illustrating one example of the operation of the circuit of FIG. 10;

FIG. 12 illustrates a processing pipeline including non-delayed latches and delayed latches with those delayed latches being reused as data retention latches during a lower power of operation;

FIG. 13 is a flow diagram schematically illustrating the operation of the circuit of FIG. 12;

FIG. 14 schematically illustrates a plurality of processing stages to which error correction and delayed latches have been applied;

FIG. 15 schematically illustrates error correction for data passing through a channel that simply passes the data value unchanged from input to output if no errors occur,

FIG. 16 schematically illustrates how error correction is performed for a value-changing logic element such as an adder, multiplier or shifter;

FIG. 17 is a flow chart schematically illustrating the operation of the circuit of FIG. 14;

FIG. 18 schematically illustrates how delayed and non-delayed latches can be used to control the relative phases of clock signals within a processing pipeline;

FIGS. 19 and 20 schematically illustrate respective uses of stalls and bubble insertion in recovering from errors;

FIG. 21 illustrates a non-delayed and delayed latch for use between processing stages with the delayed latch being reused as a serial scan chain latch; and

FIGS. 22, 23 and 24 illustrate the action of a fast data reading mechanism and a slow data reading mechanism during precharge and during detection of respective different data values; and

FIGS. 25, 26 and 27 illustrate the operation of a timing checker used in association with the circuits of FIGS. 22 to 24 to check that a signal transition being sensed with the fast data reading mechanism occurs within a predetermined time.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 illustrates a part of an integrated circuit, which may be a part of a synchronous pipeline within a processor core, such as an ARM processor core produced by ARM limited of Cambridge, England. The synchronous pipeline is formed of a plurality of like processing stages. The first stage comprises processing logic 2 followed by a non-delayed latch 4 in the form of a flip-flop together with a comparator 6 and a delayed latch 8. The term latch used herein encompasses any circuit element operable to store a signal value irrespective of triggering, clock and other requirements. Subsequent processing stages are similarly formed. A non-delayed clock signal 10 drives the processing logic and non-delayed latches 4 within all of the processing stages to operate synchronously as part of a synchronous pipeline. A delayed clock signal 12 is supplied to the delayed latches 8 of the respective processing stages. The delayed clock signal 12 is a phase shifted version of the non-delayed clock signal 10. The degree of phase shift controls the delay period between the capture of the output of the processing logic 2 by the non-delayed latch 4 and the capture of the output of the processing logic 2 at a later time performed by the delayed latch 8. If the processing logic 2 is operating within limits given the existing non-delayed clock signal frequency, the operating voltage being supplied to the integrated circuit, the body bias voltage, the temperature etc, then the processing logic 2 will have finished its processing operations by the time that the non-delayed latch 4 is triggered to capture its value. Consequently, when the delayed latch 8 later captures the output of the processing logic 2, this will have the same value as the value captured within the non-delayed latch 4. Accordingly, the comparator 6 will detect no change occurring during the delay period and error-recovery operation will not be triggered. Conversely, if the operating parameters for the integrated circuit are such that the processing logic 2 has not completed its processing operation by the time that the non-delayed latch 4 captures its value, then the delayed latch 8 will capture a different value and this will be detected by the comparator 6 thereby forcing an error-recovery operation to be performed. It will be seen that the error-recovery operation could be to replace the output of the non-delayed latch 4 which was being supplied to the following processing stage during the time following its capture with the delayed value stored within the delayed latch 8. This delayed value may additionally be forced to be stored within the non-delayed latch 4 replacing the previously erroneously captured value stored therein.

A meta-stability detector 7 serves to detect meta-stability in the output of the non-delayed latch 4, i.e. not at a clearly defined logic state. If such meta-stability is detected, then this is treated as an error and the value of the delay latch 6 is used instead.

On detection of an error, the whole pipeline may be stalled by gating the non-delayed clock signal 10 for an additional delayed period to give sufficient time for the processing logic in the following processing stage to properly respond to the corrected input signal value being supplied to it. Alternatively, it is possible that upstream processing stages may be stalled with subsequent processing stages being allowed to continue operation with a bubble inserted into the pipeline in accordance with standard pipeline processing techniques using a counterflow architecture (see the bubble and flush latches of FIG. 2). Another alternative is that the entire processing pipeline may be reset with the delayed latch values being forced into the non-delayed latches of each stage and processing resumed. The re-use of the delayed latch value in place of the erroneous value rather than an attempted recalculation ensures that forward progress is made through the processing operations even though an error has occurred.

There are constraints relating to the relationship between the processing time taken by the processing logic within the processing stages and the delay between the non-delayed capture time and the delayed capture time. In particular, the minimum processing time of any processing stage should not be less than the delay in order to ensure that the delayed value captured is not corrupted by new data being outputted from a short delay processing stage. It may be necessary to pad short delay processing stages with extra delay elements to ensure that they do not fall below this minimum processing time. At the other extreme, it needs to be ensured that the maximum processing delay of the processing logic within a processing stage that can occur at any operational point for any operating parameters is not greater than the sum of the normal non-delayed operating clock period and the delay value such that the delay value captured in the delay value latch is ensured to be stable and correct.

There are a number of alternative ways in which the system may be controlled to tune power consumption and performance. According to one arrangement an error counter circuit (not illustrated) is provided to count the number of non-equal detections made by the comparator 6. This count of errors detected and recovered from can be used to control the operating parameters using either hardware implemented or software implemented algorithms. The counter is readable by the software. The best overall performance, whether in terms of maximum speed or lowest power consumption can be achieved by deliberately operating the integrated circuit with parameters that maintain a non-zero level of errors. The gain from operating non-cautious operating parameters in such circumstances exceeds the penalty incurred by the need to recover from errors.

According to an alternative arrangement, a hardware counter is provided as a performance monitoring module and is operable to keep track of useful work and of error recovery work. In particular, the counter keeps count of the number of useful instructions used to progress the processing operations being executed and also keeps count of the number of instructions and bubbles executed to perform error recovery. The software is operable to read the hardware counter and to use the count values to appropriately balance the overhead of error recovery and its effects on system performance against the reduced power consumption achieved by running the integrated circuit at a non-zero error rate.

FIG. 2 is a circuit block diagram schematically illustrating a circuit for use in the present technique. The top portion of FIG. 2 illustrates circuit elements provided within each processing stage, namely the non-delayed latch 4, the delayed latch 8 and the comparator 6. A meta-stability detector 7 serves to detect meta-stability in the output of the non-delayed latch 4 and this also triggers generation of an error signal. Error signals from a plurality of such stages are supplied to respective inputs of an OR gate 100 where a global error signal is generated if an error is detected in any processor stage. The global error signal can be used to trigger flush and bubble insertion signals as illustrated. The circuits 102 detect whether the error signal itself is meta-stable. The error signal is latched with a positively skewed latch, referencing at a higher voltage and a negatively skewed latch, referencing at a lower voltage. If the two disagree in their latched value, this indicates that the error signal was meta-stable and the panic signal is pulled. By latching the error signal and waiting for an entire clock cycle before it sampled (i.e. two latches in series), the probability of the panic signal being meta-stable is negligible. It is significant that if the panic signal is pulled, then the restored value from the delayed latch could be corrupted due to the meta-stability of the error signal. In this case, the instruction is also invalidated and there is no forward progress. Hence flush the pipeline restart the instruction and lower the clock frequency to ensure that the error signal will not be meta-stable on the retry of the same instruction (which could otherwise cause an infinite loop of retries).

FIG. 3 is a circuit illustrating in more detail the non-delayed latch, the delayed latch, the comparator and at least part of the error-recovery circuitry. The non-delayed latch 4 can be seen to be in the form of a flip-flop provided by the two latches 14, 16. The delayed latch 8 is in the form of a single feedback element. An XOR gate 18 serves as the comparator. An error signal 20 emerges from the circuit of FIG. 3 and may be supplied to the error counter circuit as previously discussed or to other operational parameter adjusting circuits or systems. The error signal 20 serves to switch a multiplexer 22 that forces the delayed value stored within the delayed latch 8 to be stored within the latch 14 of the non-delayed latch 4. meta-stability detecting circuits 24 serve to detect the occurrence of meta-stability within the non-delayed latch 4 and also use this to trigger an error signal which will cause the erroneous meta-stable value to be replaced by the delayed value stored within the delayed latch 8.

FIGS. 4A and 4B are a flow diagram schematically illustrating the operation of the circuits of FIGS. 1, 2 and 3.

At step 26 the processing logic from a stage i produces its output signal at a time T_(i). At step 28 this is captured by the non-delayed latch and forms the non-delayed value. At step 30 the non-delayed value from the non-delayed latch starts to be passed to the following processing stage i+1 which commences processing based upon this value. This processing may turn out to be erroneous and will need recovering from should an error be detected.

Step 32 allows the processing logic to continue processing for a further time period, the delay time, to produce an output signal at time Ti+d. This output signal is latched in the delayed latch at step 34. The values within the delayed latch and the non-delayed latch are compared at step 36. If they are equal then no error has occurred and normal processing continues at step 37. If they are not equal, then this indicates that the processing logic at time T_(i) had not completed its processing operations when the non-delayed latch captured its value and started to supply that value to the subsequent processing stage i+1. Thus, an error condition has arisen and will require correction. At step 38 this correction is started by the forwarding of a pipeline bubble into the pipeline stages following stage i. At step 40 the preceding stages to stage i+1 are all stalled. This includes the stage i at which the error occurred. At step 42, stage i+1 re-executes its operation using the delayed latch value as its input. At step 44 the operating parameters of the integrated circuit may be modified as required. As an example, the operating frequency may be reduced, the operating voltage increased, the body biased voltage increased etc. Processing then continues to step 46.

If an insufficient number of errors is detected, then the operating parameter controlling circuits and algorithms can deliberately adjust the operating parameters so as to reduce power consumption and to provoke a non-zero error rate.

FIG. 5 illustrates a memory 100 containing an array of memory cells 102. In this example, a single row of memory cells is illustrated, but as will be familiar to those in this technical field such memory cell arrays are typically large two-dimensional arrays containing many thousands of memory cells. In accordance with normal memory operation, a decoder 104 serves to receive a memory address to be accessed and to decode this memory address so as to activate one of the word lines 106. The word lines serve to couple the memory cells 102 in that line to respective bit line pairs 108. Depending upon the bit value stored within the memory cell 102 concerned this will induce an electrical change (e.g. a change in voltage and/or a current flow) in the bit lines 108 now coupled to it and the change is sensed by a sense amplifier 110. The output of the sense amplifier 110 is stored at a first time within a non-delayed latch 112 and subsequently stored at a delayed time within a delayed latch 114. The non-delayed value stored within the non-delayed latch 112 is directly passed out via a mutliplexer 116 to a further processing circuit 118 before the delayed value has been stored into the delayed latch 114. When the delayed value has been captured within the delayed latch 114, a comparator 120 serves to compare the non-delayed value and the delayed value. If these are not equal, then the delayed value is switched by the multiplexer 116 to being the output value from the memory 100 for the particular bit concerned. A suppression signal is also issued from the comparator 120 to the further processing circuit 118 to suppress processing by that further processing circuit 118 based upon the erroneous non-delayed value which has now been replaced. This suppression in this example takes the form of controlling the clock signal CLK supplied to the further processing circuit 118 to stretch the clock cycle concerned and to delay latching of the new result by that further processing circuit until a time when the delayed value has had a chance to propagate through the processing circuit concerned to reach the latch at the output of that further processing circuit.

It will be seen that the sense amplifier 110 and the non-delayed latch 112 form part of the fast read mechanism. The sense amplifier 110 and the delayed latch 114 form part of the slow read mechanism. In most cases, the fast read result latched within the non-delayed latch 112 will be correct and no corrective action is necessary. In a small number of cases, the fast read result will differ from the slow read result latched within the delayed latch 114 and in this circumstance the slow read result is considered correct and serves to replace the fast read result with processing based upon that fast read result being suppressed. The penalty associated with a relatively infrequent need to correct erroneous fast read results is more than compensated for by the increased performance (in terms of speed, lower voltage operation, lower energy consumption and/or other performance parameters) that is achieved by running the memory 100 closer to its limiting conditions.

FIG. 5 illustrates a single read port to the memory 100, it will be appreciated that the present technique could be used at one or more read ports on a multiple read port memory. The examples have also shown one fast path and one slow path at each read port, it is also possible that one or more fast read paths and one or more slow read paths may be provided at a read port.

FIG. 6A illustrates a variation in part of the circuit of FIG. 5. In this variation two sense amplifiers 110′, 110″ are provided. These different sense amplifiers 110′, 110″ are formed to have different speeds of operation with one 110′ being relatively fast and less reliable and the other 110″ being relatively slow and more reliable. These different characteristics can be achieved by varying parameters of the sense amplifier 110′, 110″, e.g. construction parameters such as transistor size, doping levels, gain etc. A comparator 120′ serves to compare the two outputs. The output from the fast sense amplifier 110′ is normally passed out via the multiplexer 116′ prior to the output of the slow sense amplifier 110″ being available. When the output of the slow sense amplifier 110″ is available and the comparator 120 detects this is not equal to the output of the fast sense amplifier 110′, then it controls the multiplexer 116′ to switch the output value to be that generated by the slow sense amplifier 110″. The comparator 120 also triggers generation of a suppression signal such that downstream processing based upon the erroneous fast read result is suppressed.

FIG. 6B schematically illustrates another variation in part of the circuit of a memory to which the present techniques can be applied. In this example the direct output from the memory is used as the fast read result and is stored within non-delayed latch 112″ and passed on for further processing via multiplexer 116″. The fast read result is also passed to an error correction code (ECC) processing circuit 121 which applies error correction techniques to the received fast read result to generate the slow read result. A comparator 120″ compares the fast read result and the slow read result and if these differ then triggers output of the slow read result from multiplexer 116″ to be used in place of the fast read result. In this example both the slow and fast read mechanisms use common circuit elements upstream of the circuit elements shown in FIG. 6B, but ECC processing is only applied in the slow path so the speed overhead of ECC processing is not paid unless the comparator 120″ detected there was an error.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating the operation of the circuit of FIG. 5. At step 122, an address is decoded resulting in respective memory cells being coupled to their adjacent bit lines using a signal passed by a word line. At step 124, the bit values stored within the selected memory cells and their complements and driven onto the bit line pairs. This causes current flows within the bit lines and voltage changes in the bit lines. The sense amplifiers 110 are responsive to detected currents and/or voltage level changes.

At step 126, the fast data read mechanism samples the value being output from the memory cell at that time. At step 128 this fast read data value is passed to subsequent processing circuits for further processing upon the assumption that it is correct. At step 130, the slow data reading mechanism samples a slow read data value. Step 132 compares the fast read value and the slow read value. If these are the same, then normal processing continues at step 134. However, if the sampled values are different, then step 136 serves to issue a suppression signal to the further circuits to which the fast read value has been passed and also to issue the slow read value in place of the fast read value to those further circuits such that corrective processing may take place.

FIG. 8 illustrates the use of the present techniques within a pipelined bus 140. The pipelined bus 140 contains a number of latches 142 which serve to store data values being passed along the bus. As an example of such a pipelined bus 140 there is known the AXI buses designed by ARM Limited of Cambridge, England. In this arrangement the destination for the data value being passed along the pipelined bus 140 is a digital signal processing circuit 144. This digital signal processing (DSP) circuit 144 does not in itself implement the non-delayed latching and delayed latching techniques discussed previously. In alternative arrangements the destination for the data value being passed along the pipelined bus could be a device other than a DSPcircuit, for example, a standard ARM processor core that does not itself implement the delayed and non-delayed latching techniques.

Associated with each of the non-delayed latches 142 is a respective delayed latch 146. These delayed latches 146 serve to sample the signal value on the bus at a time later than when this was sampled and latched by the non-delayed latch 142 to which they correspond. Thus, a delay in the data value being passed along the bus for whatever reason (e.g. too low an operational voltage being used, the clock speed being too high, coupling effects from adjacent data values, etc) will result in the possibility of a difference occurring between the values stored within the non-delayed latch 142 and the delayed latch 146. The final stage on the pipeline bus 140 is illustrated as including a comparator 147 which compares the non-delayed value and the delayed value. If these are not equal, then the delayed value is used to replace the non-delayed value and the processing based upon the non-delayed value is suppressed such that the correction can take effect (the bus clock cycle may be stretched). It will be appreciated that these comparator and multiplexing circuit elements will be provided at each of the latch stages along the pipeline bus 140, but these have been omitted for the sake of clarity from FIG. 8.

As the DSP circuit 144 does not itself support the non-delayed and delayed latching mechanism with its associated correction possibilities, it is important that the data value which is supplied to the DSP circuit 144 has been subject to any necessary correction. For this reason, an additional buffering latch stage 148 is provided at the end of the pipelined bus 140 such that any correction required to the data value being supplied to that latch and the attached DSP circuit 144 can be performed before that data value is acted upon by the DSP circuit 144. The buffering latch 148 can be placed in sufficient proximity to the DSP circuit 144 that there will be no issue of an insufficient available propagation time etc. causing an error in the data value being passed from the buffering latch 148 to the DSP circuit 144.

It will be appreciated that the bus connections between the respective non-delayed latches 142 can be considered to be a form of processing logic that merely passes the data unaltered. In this way, the equivalence between the pipelined bus embodiment of FIG. 8 and the previously described embodiments (e.g. FIG. 1) will be apparent to those familiar with this technical field.

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram illustrating the operation of FIG. 8. At stage 150 a non-delayed signal value is captured from the bus line. At step 152 the non-delayed value is then passed to the next bus pipeline stage. At step 154 the corresponding delayed latch 146 captures a delayed bus signal. At step 156 the comparator 147 compares the delayed value with the non-delayed value. If these are equal, then normal processing continues at step 158. If the two compared values are not equal, then step 160 serves to delay the bus clock and replace the non-delayed value with the delayed value using the multiplexer shown in FIG. 8.

FIG. 10 illustrates a further example embodiment using the present techniques. In this example embodiment an instruction from an instruction register within a processor core is latched within an instruction latch 162. From this instruction latch 162, the instruction is passed to a decoder 164 which includes a microcoded ROM serving to generate an appropriate collection of processor control signals for storage in a non-delayed control signal latch 166 and subsequent use to control the processing performed by the processor core in accordance with the instruction latched within the instruction latch 162. The control signals output from the decoder 164 are also latched within a delayed control signal latch 168 at a later time to when they were latched within the non-delayed control signal latch 166. The delayed control signal values and the non-delayed control signal values can then be compared. If these are not equal, then this indicates that corrective action is necessary. A suppression operation is triggered by the detection of such a difference and serves to stop subsequent processing based upon the inappropriate latch control signal values. It may be that in some circumstances the only effective recovery option is to reset the processor as a whole. This may be acceptable. In other situations, the error in the control signals might be such that a less drastic suppression and recovery mechanism is possible. As an example, the particular erroneous control signal may not yet have been acted upon, e.g. in the case of a multi-cycle program instruction where some processing operations do not commence until late in the overall execution of the multi-cycle instruction. An example of this is a multiply-accumulate operation in which the multiply portion takes several clock cycles before the final accumulate takes place. If there is an error in the control signal associated with the accumulate and in practice an accumulate is not required, but merely a pure multiply, then it would be possible to suppress the accumulate by correcting the control signal being applied to the accumulator before the adder had sought to perform the accumulate operation.

FIG. 11 illustrates one example of the operation of the circuit of FIG. 10. At step 170, a multiply-accumulate control signal is read from the decoder 164 (microcoded ROM). At step 172, this multiply-accumulate control signal is latched within the non-delayed control signal latch 166 and output to the various processing elements within the processor core. At step 174, the multiply operands are read from the register file and the multiply operation is initiated. At step 176, the control signals output by the instruction decoder 164 are re-sampled by the delayed control signal latch 168. At step 178, the non-delayed control signals and the delayed control signals are compared. If these are equal, then normal processing continues at step 180. However, if these are not equal, then processing proceeds to step 182 where a determination is made as to whether the multiply operation has yet completed. If the multiply operation has completed, then the erroneous accumulate operation will have started and the best option for recovery is to reset the system as a whole at step 184. However, if the multiply operation is still in progress, then step 186 can be used to reset the adder and cancel the accumulate operation with the desired multiply operation output result being generated at step 188, as was originally intended by the program instruction stored within the instruction latch 162.

FIG. 12 illustrates a modification of the circuit illustrated in FIG. 1. In this embodiment the delayed latches 190 serve the additional function of data retention (balloon) latches for use during a standby/sleep mode of operation (low power consumption mode). The function of the delayed latches 190 during normal processing operations is as previously described. However, when a sleep controller 192 serves to initiate entry into a low power consumption mode of operation it stops the non-delayed clock and the delayed clock such that the delayed latches 190 are all storing data values corresponding to their respective non-delayed latches. At this point, the voltage supply to the non-delayed latches and the associated processing circuits is removed such that they are powered down and lose their state. However, the voltage supplied to the non-delayed latches 190 is maintained such that they serve to retain the state of the processing circuit concerned. When the system exits from the low power consumption mode, the processing logic and the non-delayed latches are powered up again when the comparator detects a difference in the values in the non-delayed latch and the delayed latch 190 it triggers replacement of the erroneous value within the non-delayed latch with the correct value held within the associated delayed latch 190. It will be appreciated that since the delayed latches 190 are subject to less stringent timing requirements than their non-delayed counterparts they can be formed in a way where they may have a lower speed of operation but be better suited to low power consumption during the low power consumption mode (e.g. high threshold voltages resulting in slower switching but with a reduced leakage current). In this way, the error correcting delayed latches which are used during normal processing can be reused during the low power consumption mode as data retention latches thereby advantageously reducing the overall gate count of the circuit concerned.

FIG. 13 is a flow diagram schematically illustrating the operation of the circuit of FIG. 12. At step 194, the integrated circuit is in its normal operational processing mode. At step 196, the processing logic stage produces an output signal at a non-delayed time. At step 198, the non-delayed latch captures that output signal. At step 200 the non-delayed signal within the non-delayed latch is passed to the next processing stage. At step 202, the output from the processing stage at a delayed time is generated and is available for capture by the delayed latch. At step 204, the integrated circuit is triggered to adopt a low power consumption mode and the speed controller 192 serves to initiate the power down of the processing circuits while maintaining the power to the delayed latches 190. At step 206, the delayed latch 190 captures the delayed signal value. It may be that the capture of the delayed signal value by the delayed latch at step 206 takes place before the switch to the low power mode at step 204. At step 208, the non-delayed latch is powered down and its stored value is lost. The integrated circuit can remain in this state for a long period of time. When desired, step 210 triggers the sleep controller 192 to exit the low power consumption mode and revert back to the operational mode. At step 212, power is restored to the non-delayed latches and the associated processing logic with the delayed data values within the delayed latches 190 being used to repopulate the pipeline stages as necessary to restore the system to its condition prior to the low power consumption mode being entered.

FIG. 14 schematically illustrates a plurality of processing stages to which error correction control and delayed latches have been applied. The processing stages form part of an integrated circuit that may be part of a synchronous pipeline within a processor core, part of a communication bus or part of a memory system. The first processing stage comprises either a channel for communication of data or processing logic 1014, a non-delayed latch 1016, a delayed latch 1018, a comparator 1024 that compares outputs of the delayed latch and the non-delayed latch and outputs a control signal to a multiplexer 1020 determining whether the delayed signal value or the non-delayed signal value is supplied as input to a subsequent processing stage or channel 1016. The channel/logic 1014 and the non-delayed latch 1016 are driven by a non-delayed clock signal whereas the delayed latch 1019 is driven by a delayed clock signal which is a phase-shifted version of the non-delayed clock signal.

If the comparator 1024 detects a difference between the non-delayed signal value and the delayed signal value this indicates that either the processing operation was incomplete at the non-delayed capture time in the case that element 1014 represents processing logic or that the signal from the previous pipeline stage had not yet reached the present stage in the case of the element 1014 representing a data channel. In the event that such a difference is in fact detected, the value stored in the delayed latch 1018 is the more reliable data value since it was captured later when the processing operation is more likely to have been completed or the data from the previous stage is more likely to have arrived via the data channel. By supplying the result from the delayed latch to the next processing stage 1030 and suppressing use of the non-delayed value in subsequent processing stages, forward progress of the computation can be ensured. However, the reliability of the delayed signal value stored in the delayed latch 1018 can be compromised in the event that a single event upset occurred and corrupted the delayed value. The single event upset is effectively a pulse so it may well be missed by the non-delayed latch but picked up by the delayed latch. Such a single event upset will result in the comparator detecting a difference between the delayed and non-delayed values as a direct result of the single event upset and will then propagate the corrupted delayed value to subsequent processing stages. A single event upset that corrupts the non-delayed value will not be problematic since it will result in suppressing use of the erroneous non-delayed value and propagating the delayed value to subsequent stages.

The arrangement of FIG. 14 reduces the likelihood of a corrupted delayed value progressing through the computation by providing a cross-check of data integrity by provision of an error detection module 1026, an error correction module 1028 and a multiplexer 1022 that is controlled by the error detection module 1026 to supply either the delayed value from the delayed latch directly to the comparator 1024 or alternatively to supply an error corrected value output by the error correction module 1028. Upstream of the channel/logic unit 1014 a data payload of eight bits is error correction encoded and four redundancy bits are added to the data payload to form a twelve-bit signal. The twelve-bit signal passes through the channel/logic unit 1014 and its value is captured by both the non-delayed latch 1016 and the delayed latch 1018. However, a delayed value of the signal derived from the delayed latch 1018 is also supplied as input to the error detection module 1026, which determines from the 12-bit error-correction encoded signal whether any errors have occurred that affect the delayed value. In an alternative arrangement a further latch could be provided to supply a signal value to the error detection module 1018, that captures the signal value at a time slightly later than the delayed latch 1018. The error-checking must be performed on a value captured at the same time as the delayed value is captured or slightly later to ensure that any random error that occurred between capture of the non-delayed value and capture of the delayed value is detected.

A given error correction code is capable of detecting a predetermined number of errors and of correcting a given number of errors. Thus the error detection module 1026 detects whether any errors have occurred and, if so, if the number of errors is sufficiently small such that they are all correctable. If correctable errors are detected then the signal value is supplied to the error correction module 1028 where the errors are corrected using the error correction code and the corrected delayed value is supplied to the comparator 1024. If it is determined by the comparator 1024 that the corrected delayed value differs from the non-delayed value then the error recovery procedure is invoked so that further propagation of the non-delayed value is suppressed in subsequent processing stages and the operations are instead performed using the corrected delayed value. On the other hand, if the comparator 1024 determines that the corrected delayed value is the same as the delayed value then there are two alternative possibilities for progressing the calculation. Firstly, the error recovery mechanism could nevertheless be invoked so that the non-delayed value is suppressed in subsequent processing stages and replaced by the corrected delayed value. Alternatively, since the non-delayed value is determined to have been correct (as evidenced by the equality of the non-delayed value and the corrected delayed value), the error recovery mechanism could be suppressed (despite the detection of an error in the delayed value) thus allowing the non-delayed value to continue to progress through the subsequent processing stages. However, if uncorrectable errors are detected in the delayed value by the error detection module 1026 then a control signal is supplied to suppress use of the corrupted delayed value. In this case forward progress of the computation cannot be achieved. The type of error correction encoding applied differs according to the nature of the channel/processing logic 1014.

Processing logic can be categorised as either value-passing or value-altering. Examples of processing logic that is value-passing are memory, registers and multiplexers. Examples of value-altering processing logic elements are adders, multipliers and shifters. Error detection and correction for value-altering processing logic elements is more complex than for value-passing processing logic elements because even when no error has occurred the value output by the logic stage 1014 is likely to be different from the input twelve-bit signal 1013.

FIG. 15 schematically illustrates error correction for data passing through a channel that simply passes the data value unchanged from input to output if no errors occur. In the case of such value-passing processing logic it is convenient to use a linear block code such as a Hamming code for error correction and detection. Linear block codes typically involve forming a codeword in which the original data payload bits remain in the codeword unchanged but some parity bits (or redundancy bits) are added. Hamming codes are simple single-bit error correction codes and for an (N, K) code, N is the total number of bits in the codeword and K is the number of data bits to be encoded. The presence and location of an error is detected by performing a number of parity checks on the output codeword. The Hamming code comprises N-K parity bits, each of which is calculated from a different combination of bits in the data. Hamming codes are capable of correcting one error or detecting two errors. The number of parity bits (or redundancy bits required is given by the Hamming rule K+p+1 <2^(P), where p is the number of parity bits and N=K+p.

As illustrated in FIG. 15 input to the channel is a 12 bit codeword comprising eight data bits and four parity or redundancy bits. Parity checks are performed by an error detection/correction module 1116 on the output from the channel 1114. Any single-bit error in the 12-bit codeword is detected and corrected prior to output of the codeword by the error detection/correction module 1116. If detected errors are uncorrectable the error detection/correction module 1116 outputs a signal indicating that this is the case. Although simple codes such as Hamming codes have been described in relation to FIG. 11 for use with value-passing processing logic, it will be appreciated that other error correction codes such as convolutional codes could alternatively be used.

FIG. 16 schematically illustrates how error correction is performed for a value-changing logic element such as an adder, multiplier or shifter. In the case of value-altering processing logic arithmetic codes such as AN codes, residue codes, inverse residue codes or residue number codes may be used to detect and correct random errors in the output of the processing logic.

Arithmetic codes can be used to check arithmetic operators. Where {circle around (×)} represents the operator to be checked the following relation must be satisfied: Code (X{circle around (×)}Y)=code X{circle around (×)}code Y

AN codes are arithmetic codes that involve multiplying the data word by a constant factor, for example a 3N code can be used to check the validity of an addition operation by performing the following comparison: 3N(X)+3N(Y)?=3N(X+Y) 3X+3Y?=3(X+Y).

A further example of a class of arithmetic codes are residue codes, in which a residue (remainder of division by a constant) is added to the data bits as check bits e.g. a 3R code involves modulo (MOD) 3 operations and the following check is applied: X MOD 3+Y MOD 3?=(X+Y)MOD 3

Consider the numerical example of X=14 and Y=7:

14 MOD 3=2 (codeword 111010, with last two bits as residue);

7 MOD 3=1 (codeword 011101);

X+Y=21 (10101);

and 21 MOD 3=0;

sum of residues MOD 3=(2+1) MOD 3=0=residue of (X+Y).

FIG. 16 schematically illustrates use of a 7R arithmetic code for checking of an addition operation in the channel/logic units 1014 of FIG. 10. The addition operation to be checked is X+Y, where X and Y are eight-bit data words. Each data word has a four check bits having values X MOD 7 and Y MOD 7 respectively. X MOD 7 and Y MOD 7 are supplied as operands to a first adder 1210 and the output of this adder is supplied to logic that determines the value (X MOD 7+Y MOD 7) MOD 7 and supplies the result as a first input to a comparator 1250. A second adder 1230 performs the addition (X+Y), supplies the result to a logic unit 1240 that calculates (X+Y) MOD 7 and supplies the result as a second input to the comparator 1250. If the comparator detects any difference between the two input values then an error has occurred.

FIG. 17 is a flow chart that schematically illustrates the operation of the circuit of FIG. 14 that comprises error correction control of the delayed latch value. At stage 1310 a twelve-bit error correction encoded signal value is input to the channel/logic unit 1014. Next, at stage 1320, the non-delayed latch 1016 captures the output from the channel/logic unit 1014 at time Ti and the captured value is forwarded to subsequent processing logic stage I+1 at stage 1330. At stage 1340 the delayed latch 1018 captures the output signal at time Ti+d. At stage 1350, the error detection logic captures the output from the channel/logic unit 1014 at time Ti+(d+δ). Although δ in preferred arrangements δ is zero so that value output by the delayed value itself is actually error checked, the output may alternatively be captured a short after the delayed latch captures the output signal at Ti+d. The capture of the value for supply to the error detection circuit is appropriately timed to ensure that any random error in the delayed value is detected. At stage 1360, the error detection module 1026 determines whether the delayed output signal has an error using the redundancy bits. If an error is detected it is then determined whether the error is correctable at stage 1370, which will depend on how many bits are affected. For example, a Hamming code can only correct a single bit error. If it is determined at stage 1370 that the error is correctable then the process proceeds to stage 1390, whereupon the error is corrected and the corrected delayed value is selected at the multiplexer 1022 and supplied to the comparator 1024. However, if it is determined at stage 1370 that detected errors are not correctable then a control signal is generated indicating that an uncorrectable error has occurred. In this case forward progress of the computation cannot be reliably performed. At stage 1392 the comparator 1024 determines whether the error-checked delayed value is equal to the non-delayed value and if so forward progress of the computation continues. Otherwise the process to the sequence of steps described in relation to FIG. 4B, involving suppression of the non-delayed value and its replacement by the delayed value in subsequent processing stages is carried out.

FIG. 18 illustrates the use of the present technique to dynamically adjust the relative timing between processing stages. It is known that in a pipelined processing environment, the processing stages may take different times to complete their respective operations. Ideally the processing stages would all be balanced to take the same time and for their respective times to vary in the same way with changes in surrounding conditions. However, this is not practical in many cases and it may be that a collection of processing stages that are balanced at one operational voltage or temperature are not balanced at another operational voltage or temperature. Furthermore, manufacturing variation and other characteristics may result in considerable differences between processing stage timings which upsets the designed balance therebetween. In these cases, the clock frequency and other operational parameters are chosen with respect to a worst-case scenario such that the processing stages will be sufficiently closely balanced so as to be operational under all conditions.

The present technique allows a more selective and indeed dynamic approach to be taken. A pipelined processing circuit 2000 includes delayed latches 2002 which can be used to detect the occurrence of errors in the signal values being captured by the non-delayed latches. The occurrence of these errors is fed back to a clock phase control circuit 204 which serves to adjust the relative phases of the clock signals being supplied to respective latches within the main path, i.e. the non-delayed latches. In this way, an adjustment is made whereby time is effectively borrowed from one processing stage and allocated to another processing stage. This may be achieved by tapping the clock signals to be used by the respective non-delayed latches from selectable positions within a delay line along which the basic clock signal is propagated.

The illustrated example, the processing logic between latch L_(A) and latch L_(B) is slower in operation than the processing logic in the subsequent stage. Accordingly, the clock signal being supplied to the non-delayed latch L_(B) can be phase shifted so as to delay the rising edge of that clock signal (assuming rising edge latch capture) and thereby to extend the time available for the slow processing logic. This reduces the time available for the processing logic within the subsequent processing stage assuming that this is operating on the same basic clock signal as the other stage elements excluding the latch L_(B).

This timing balancing between processing stages can be performed dynamically during the ongoing operation of the circuit using feedback from the errors in operation detected using the delay latches. Alternatively, the balancing can be performed as a one-off operation during a manufacturing test stage or during a “golden boot” of the integrated circuit. The delayed latches shown in FIG. 18 are used for the purpose of timing balancing between processing stages and can thereafter be used for the control of operating parameters and error correction as discussed above, e.g. in relation to FIG. 1. In this way, the provision of the delayed latches is further used to also control relative clock timings.

FIG. 19 illustrates a simple approach to pipeline error recovery based on global clock gating. In the event that any stage detects an error, the entire pipeline is stalled for one cycle by gating the next global clock edge. The additional clock period allows every stage to recompute its result using the delayed latch as input. Consequently, any previously forwarded errant values will be replaced with the correct value from the delayed latch. Since all stages re-evaluate their result with the delayed latch input, any number of errors can be tolerated in a single cycle and forward progress is guaranteed. If all stages produce an error each cycle, the pipeline will continue to run, but at ½ the normal speed.

It is important that errant pipeline results not be written to architectured state before it has been validated by the comparator. Since validation of delayed values takes two additional cycles (i.e., one for error detection and one for panic detection), there must be two non-speculative stages between the last delayed latch and the writeback (WB) stage. In our design, memory accesses to the data cache are non-speculative, hence, only one additional stage labelled ST for stabilise is required before writeback (WB). The ST stage introduces an additional level of register bypass. Since store instructions must execute non-speculatively, they are performed in the WB stage of the pipeline.

FIG. 19 gives a pipeline timing diagram of a pipeline recovery for an instruction that fails in the EX stage of the pipeline. The first failed stage computation occurs in the 4^(th) cycle, but only after the MEM stage has computed an incorrect result using the errant value forward from the EX stage. After the error is detected, a global clock stall occurs in the 6^(th) cycle, permitting the correct EX result in the Razor shadow latch to be evaluated by the MEM stage. IN the 7^(th) cycle, normal pipeline operation resumes.

In aggressively clocked designs, it may not be possible to implement global clock gating without significantly impacting processor cycle time. Consequently, a fully pipelined error recover mechanism based on counterflow, pipelining techniques has been implemented. The approach, illustrated in FIG. 20, places negligible timing constraints on the baseline pipeline design at the expense of extending pipeline recovery over a few cycles. When a non-delayed value error is detected, two specific actions must be taken. First, the errant stage computation following the failing non-delayed latch must be nullified. This action is accomplished using the bubble signal, which indicates to the next and subsequent stages that the pipeline slot is empty. Second, the flush train is triggered by asserting the stage ID of failing stage. In the following cycle, the correct value from the delayed latch data is injected back into the pipeline, allowing the errant instruction to continue with its correct inputs. Additionally, there is a counterflow pipeline whereby the flush train begins propagating the ID of the failing stage in the opposite direction of instructions. At each stage visited by the active flush train, the corresponding pipeline stage and the one immediately preceding are replaced with a bubble. (Two stages must be nullified to account for the twice relative speed of the main pipeline.) When the flush ID reaches the start of the pipeline, the flush control logic restarts the pipeline at the instruction following the errant instruction. In the event that multiple stages experience errors in the same cycle, all will initiate recovery but only the non-delayed error closest to writeback (WB) will complete. Earlier recoveries will be flushed by later ones. Note that the counterflow pipeline may not be the same length as the forward pipeline so that, for example, the flush train of the counterflow pipeline could be two pipeline stages deep whereas the forward pipeline may be twelve stages deep.

FIG. 20 shows a pipeline timing diagram of a pipelined recovery for an instruction that fails in the EX stage. As in the precious example, the first failed stage computation occurs in the 4^(th) cycle, when the second instruction computes an incorrect result in the EX stage of the pipeline. This error is detected in the 5^(th) cycle, causing a bubble to be propagated out of the MEM stage and initiation of the flush train. The instruction in the EX, ID and IF stages are flushed in the 6^(th), 7^(th) and 8^(th) cycles, respectively. Finally, the pipeline is restarted after the errant instruction in cycle 9, after which normal pipeline operation resumes.

Recall from the description of FIG. 2 above, that in the event that circuits 102 detect meta-stability in the error signal then a panic signal is asserted. In this case, the current instruction (rather than the next instruction) should be re-executed. When such a panic signal is asserted, all pipeline state is flushed and the pipeline is restarted immediately after the least instruction writeback. Panic situations complicate the guarantee of forward progress, as the delay in detecting the situation may result in the correct result being overwritten in the delayed latch. Consequently, after experiencing a panic, the supply voltage is reset to a known-safe operating level, and the pipeline is restarted. One re-tuned, the errant instruction should complete without errors as long as returning is prohibited until after this instruction completes.

A key requirement of the pipeline recover control is that it not fail under even the worst operating conditions (e.g. low voltage, high temperature and high process variation). This requirement is met through a conservative design approach that validates the timing of the error recovery circuits at the worst-case subcritical voltage.

FIG. 21 schematically illustrates the re-use of a delayed latch 2100 as a serial scan chain latch. This is achieved by the provision of a multiplexer 2102 controlled by the scan enable signals which allow a serial scan data value to be written into the delay latch or serially read from the delayed latch as required. Furthermore, the normal mechanism which allows the delayed latch value to replace the non-delayed latch value is exploited to allow a serial scan chain value to be inserted into the operational path.

FIG. 22 illustrates a portion of the fast data reading mechanism 3002 and the slow data reading mechanism 3004 which are used in accordance with some embodiments of the present technique. The fast data reading mechanism 3002 incorporates a variety of components and provides a sense amplifier which is responsive to a change in signal level on one of the bit lines 3006, 3008 to generate a transition of one of its output signals Q, {overscore (Q)}. The fast data reading mechanism 3002 is triggered to start reading of the bit lines 3006, 3008 in response to a speculative sense amp enable signal SPEC_SAEn.

Prior to this activation, the fast data reading mechanism 3002 and the slow data reading mechanism 3004 are subject to a precharge operation which is the state illustrated in FIG. 22. In this state, the speculative sense amp enable signal SPEC_SAEn and the normal sense amp enable signal SAEn (used by the slow data reading mechanism 3004) are both held low. A result of this is that transistors 3010, 3012, 3014, 3016, 3018, 3020, 3022 and 3024 are all held switched on. The transistors 3026, 3028, 3030, 3032, 3034 and 3036 are all held switched off.

The bit lines which are routed to both the fast data reading mechanism 3002 and the slow data reading mechanism 3004 are each connected to a column of memory cells (not illustrated) within a memory cell array in the conventional manner. This memory may be a cache memory, an SRAM memory or some other type of memory. The bit line signals are both precharged to a high level. When a particularly memory cell is being read, then depending upon the data value it is storing, it selectively discharges one of the two bit lines 3006, 3008. This is the type of memory operation which will be familiar to those skilled in this particular technical field. In the state illustrated in FIG. 22 the bit lines 3006, 3008 are both precharged to a high voltage level before a memory cell is read and the transistors 3038, 3040, 3042 and 3044 are all switched on.

Transistors 3046 and 3048 are provided and are permanently switched on, but are relatively weak. The function of the transistors 3046 and 3048 is to equalise the signal voltages supplied to the sense amplifier portion of the fast data reading mechanism 3002 and slow data reading mechanism 3004 before the read starts. This is to stop minor differences, due to process variations and the like, being incorrectly sensed as a voltage difference corresponding to a real data value. The transistors 3046 and 3048 are relatively weak and so their equalisation action is readily overcome when a real data value is being sensed.

In the state illustrated in FIG. 22 the circuit is stable and the signal outputs from the fast data reading mechanism 3002 and the slow data reading mechanism 3004, namely Q and {overscore (Q)} are both low. It is transitions within these signals Q and {overscore (Q)} which are used to generate the fast read result and the slow read result.

FIG. 23 illustrates the action of the fast data reading mechanism 3002 and the slow data reading mechanism 3004 in response to a transition of the bit line signal B from high to low. The signal which triggers sensing by the fast data reading mechanism 3002 is SPEC_SAEn which is driven high turning off transistors 3010 and 3012. At the same time transistor 3034 is switched on by the signal SPEC_SAEn. The change in the bit line signal B from high to low switches off the transistor 3040. This permits the signal Qint to change from high to low with the charge on that line being discharged through transistors 3018, 3038 and 3034. Meanwhile, the signal {overscore (Qint)} is held high. The transistor 3020 is switched off in response to the change in Qint and the transistor 3028 is switched on.

It will be appreciated by those in this technical field that whilst these transitions are in operation there exists the potential for metastability. If metastability does occur within the sense amplifier, then both Q and {overscore (Q)} remain at logic zero until the metastable state is left. If the fast data reading mechanism 3002 is operating correctly, then a transition in one of Q, {overscore (Q)} will occur within a predetermined time of the speculative sense amp enable signal SPEC_SAEn triggering the fast data reading mechanism 3002 to start sensing. If a transition in one of these signals Q, {overscore (Q)} does not occur within a predetermined time of the start of this sensing, then this is indicative of a timing error in the fast read result as will be discussed later.

The slow data reading mechanism 3004 operates in a similar manner to the fast data reading mechanism 3002, but in this case, the sense amp enable signal SAEn triggers the sensing to occur later at which time the bit signals B, {overscore (B)} will more reliably have transitioned to values corresponding to the true data value and so generate a more reliable result Q, {overscore (Q)}. As will be seen in FIG. 23, the AND gates 3050 and 3052 serve to generate respective error signals if the fast read result and the slow read result do not agree, i.e. either {overscore (Q)} from the fast data reading mechanism 302 and Q from the slow data reading mechanism 304 are both high or Q from the fast data reading mechanism 302 and {overscore (Q)} from the slow data reading mechanism 304 are both high. If either of these situations is detected, then the OR gate 3054 passes an error signal to an error latch 3056 where it is output as a read error signal RD_ERR. This error signal triggers corrective action being taken in accordance with the above described techniques since the fast read result is already being relied upon in other portions of the circuit. The fast read result RD is latched within a latch 3058 in response to the speculative sense amp enabling signal SPEC_SAEn and is driven out through a buffer 3060 to generate the fast read result RD.

FIG. 24 is similar to FIG. 23 except that in this case it is the bit line signal {overscore (B)} which undergoes a transition from high to low. This results in a fast read result signal RD=1 being driven out from the system.

FIG. 25 illustrates a timing checker 3062. A delay line composed of three inverters 3064 receives as its input the speculative sense amp enable signal SPEC_SAEn and generates self-timed control signals for controlling the timing checker at predetermined times after the transition in the signal SPEC_SAEn.

FIG. 25 illustrates the precharge phase for the timing checker 3062. In this phase the transistor 3066 is switched on and charges the sensing node 3068 high. A weak feedback circuit 3070 serves to maintain the signal level at the node 3068. Latch 3072 is a transparent latch which serves to output the value at the node 3068 as a signal indicative of a transition (timing) error occurring for the signal transitions being sensed by the fast data reading mechanism 3002. When SPEC_SAEn is low, the latch 3072 is closed and the node 3068 is precharged.

In FIG. 26 the speculative sense amp enable signal SPEC_SAEn has transitioned high and this change has propagated along the delay line 3064 so that the transistor 3066 is turned off whilst a discharge gate 3072 is still switched on. At this point in time the transistors 3074 and 3076 will be either in a switched on state or in a switched off state depending upon the values of the signals Q, {overscore (Q)} being generated by the fast data reading mechanism 3002. If either of these are high, then the node 3068 will discharge to ground and the transparent latch 3072 (which is now open due to the change in SPEC_SAEn) will pass a low value as the timing error signal TRANS_ERR indicating that a timing error has not occurred, i.e. one of the signals Q and {overscore (Q)} has transitioned from low to high within the predetermined time period. If neither of the signals Q, {overscore (Q)} has transitioned from low to high within the predetermined time period controlled by the length of the delay line 3064, then neither of the transistors 3074, 3076 will be switched on and the node 3068 will remain high.

FIG. 27 illustrates the sample phase of the timing checker 3062. At this point the transition in the speculative sense amp enable signal SPEC_SAEn has made its way fully along the delay line 3064 and the transistor 3074 will switch off isolating the sample node 3068 and accordingly preserving its value. At the same time, the transparent latch 3072 will be open until SPEC_SAEn changes causing it to close and hold its output. Thus, it will be seen that the timing checker 3062 serves to generate a timing error signal TRANS_ERR high if neither Q nor {overscore (Q)} transitioned high during a predetermined time period following the high transition in the sense amp enable signal SPEC_SAEn. Accordingly, metastability occurring within the fast data reading mechanism 3002 which acts to delay the signal transitions being sensed in Q, {overscore (Q)} will result in a timing error signal being output and accordingly the fast read result being regarded as in error and unreliable.

Although illustrative embodiments of the invention have been described in detail herein with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to those precise embodiments, and that various changes and modifications can be effected therein by one skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as defined by the appended claims. 

1. A memory for storing data comprising: a fast data reading mechanism operable to sense one or more signal values dependent upon a data value stored in said memory so as to generate a first signal transition indicative of said data value and used to generate a fast read result that is output from said memory for further processing; a slow data reading mechanism operable to sense said one or more signal values dependent upon said data value so as to generate a second signal transition indicative of said data value and used to generate a slow read result available after said fast read result, said slow read result being less prone to error than said fast read result; a comparator operable to compare said fast read result and said slow read result and to generate an error signal if said fast read result does not match said slow read result; and a timing checker coupled to said fast data reading mechanism and operable to detect that said first signal transition was generated within a predetermined time.
 2. A memory as claimed in claim 1, wherein said predetermined time commences with said fast data reading mechanism starting to sense said one or more signal values.
 3. A memory as claimed in claim 1, wherein said fast data reading mechanism comprises a fast data reading sense amplifier and said slow data reading mechanism comprises a slow data reading sense amplifier.
 4. A memory as claimed in claim 1, comprising a plurality of memory cells storing respective data values and coupled to a pair of bit lines carrying respective bit line signals, said plurality of memory cells being operable when read to generate a voltage difference between said bit line signals and wherein said said one or more signals sensed by said fast data reading mechanism and said slow data reading mechanism comprise said bit line signals.
 5. A memory as claimed in claim 1, wherein said timing checker comprises a sensing node, a node charging circuit for charging said sensing node to a predetermining voltage and a discharging circuit operable to discharge said sensing node if said first signal transition was generated within said predetermined time.
 6. A memory as claimed in claim 5, wherein after said predetermined time said discharging circuit is disabled such that sensing node will not be discharged if said first signal transition was generated after said predetermined time.
 7. A memory as claimed in claim 5, wherein a feedback circuit coupled to said sensing node maintains said predetermined voltage at said sensing node unless discharge circuit discharges said sensing node and overcomes said feedback circuit.
 8. A memory as claimed in claim 1, wherein if said timing checker detects that said first signal transition occurred after said predetermined time, then said timing checker generates a timing error signal indicative of an error in said fast read result.
 9. A method of reading a data value from a memory, said method comprising the steps of: memory for storing data comprising: sensing one or more signal values dependent upon a data value stored in said memory so as to generate a first signal transition indicative of said data value and used to generate a fast read result that is output from said memory for further processing; sensing said one or more signal values dependent upon said data value so as to generate a second signal transition indicative of said data value and used to generate a slow read result available after said fast read result, said slow read result being less prone to error than said fast read result; comparing said fast read result and said slow read result and to generate an error signal if said fast read result does not match said slow read result; and detecting that said first signal transition was generated within a predetermined time.
 10. A method as claimed in claim 9, wherein said predetermined time commences with starting to sense said one or more signal values to generate said first signal transition.
 11. A method as claimed in claim 9, wherein said fast read result is generated with a fast data reading sense amplifier and said slow read result is generated with a slow data reading sense amplifier.
 12. A method as claimed in claim 9, wherein said memory comprises a plurality of memory cells storing respective data values and coupled to a pair of bit lines carrying respective bit line signals, said plurality of memory cells being operable when read to generate a voltage difference between said bit line signals and wherein said said one or more signals sensed to generate said first signal transition and said second signal transition comprise said bit line signals.
 13. A method as claimed in claim 9, wherein detecting that said first signal transition was generated within said predetermined time comprises charging a sensing node to a predetermining voltage and discharging said sensing node if said first signal transition was generated within said predetermined time.
 14. A method as claimed in claim 13, wherein after said predetermined time said discharging is disabled such that sensing node will not be discharged if said first signal transition was generated after said predetermined time.
 15. A method as claimed in claim 13, wherein feedback at said sensing node maintains said predetermined voltage at said sensing node unless said sensing node is discharged to overcome said feedback.
 16. A method as claimed in claim 9, wherein if said first signal transition occurred after said predetermined time, then a timing error signal is generated indicating an error in said fast read result. 